The earliest type of lounge music appeared during the s and s, and was known as light music. In the 21st century, the term lounge music may also be used to describe the types of music played in hotels the lounge, the bar , casinos , supermarkets , several restaurants , and piano bars.
Telegraph-Journal
Exotica , space age pop , and some forms of easy listening music popular during the s and s are now broadly termed lounge. The term lounge does not appear in textual documentation of the period, such as Billboard magazine or long playing album covers , but has been retrospectively applied.
While rock and roll was generally influenced by blues and country , lounge music was derived from jazz and other musical elements borrowed from traditions around the world. It combined music that was popular outside the USA, such as various Latin genres e.
Such music could have some instruments exaggerated e. Many of these recordings were portrayed as originating in exotic foreign lands, but in truth were recorded in Hollywood recording studios by veteran session musicians. Another genre, space age pop, mimicked space age sound effects of the time and reflected the public interest in space exploration.
With the advent of stereophonic technology, artists such as Esquivel used spatial audio techniques to full effect, creating whooshing sounds with his orchestra. Allmusic describes lounge as less "adventurous" than exotica or space age pop, but not as "watered-down" as Muzak. A good deal of lounge music was pure instrumental i. Sometimes, this music would be theme music from movies or TV shows, although such music could be produced independently from other entertainment productions.
These instrumentals could be produced with an orchestral arrangement, or from an arrangement of instruments very similar to that found in jazz, or even rock and roll such as the Hammond Organ or electric guitar. The music of Burt Bacharach was soon featured as part of many lounge singers' repertoires. Such artists performed mainly at featured lounges in Las Vegas casinos. Documented pioneers of the Las Vegas lounge scene, the Mary Kaye Trio were first on the scene in the early 50's.
Lounge singers have a lengthy history stretching back to the decades of the early twentieth century. The somewhat derisive term lounge lizard was coined then, and less well known lounge singers have often been ridiculed as dinosaurs of past eras [4] and parodied for their smarmy delivery of standards. Many well-known performers got their start as lounge singers and musicians.
- Vancouver, BC (Canada) Travel Guide - Sightseeing, Hotel, Restaurant & Shopping Highlights (Illustrated)!
- Story Wine Prize runner-up: I thought maybe I could be a lounge singer.
- NIV Soul Survivor Bible In One Year (New International Version).
- The Politics and Policies of Relief, Aid and Reconstruction: Contrasting approaches to disasters and emergencies?
Although he claims not to have worked for very long, Billy Joel worked as a lounge musician and penned the song "Piano Man" about his experience. Not all lounge singers, however, sing lounge music. Lounge emerged in the late s as a label of endearment by younger fans whose parents had listened to such music in the s. All in all, a fascinating glimpse into the work of a very serious and very interesting composer who appears to have always been open to new things. I was not provided any liner notes with the download of this album for review, but only the following blurb on the Naxos download site:.
He turned to Wolfgang Rihm. This is the genesis of Das Gehege, a nocturnal scene for soprano and orchestra. After considering the first orchestral manuscripts, the maestro, known for his openness and great erudition, encouraged the young man to expand his musical career.
- The Official Journal of the National Association of Teachers of Singing.
- An Online Journal of Jazz and Classical Music?
- Learning To Live (Zombie Overload Series Book 3)?
- Papaya Lounge | Slideshows | North Coast Journal.
- THE ART MUSIC LOUNGE | An Online Journal of Jazz and Classical Music | Page 16.
- Kate Campbell digs into the Great American Songbook.
All of which sounds pretty confusing and politically slanted to me, and in my mind The Little Prince is complete rubbish, but there you are. Without visuals, however, all we have to go by on this CD is the actual music. The Rihm piece, interesting modern music which is well-written and dramatic, is sadly marred by the loose vibrato read: To editorialize a moment, in the old days conductors actually went to great lengths to procure the services of singers without wobbles, strained top ranges etc.
Papaya Lounge
Nowadays, it seems as if whatever the hell is available is what gets on records, and although Dupuis seems to give a pretty dramatic reading of the text whatever it is , and surprisingly has a good low range, the overall effect is consistently marred by her incessant wobbling. The piece consists of three almost completely separate documents, each portraying a group of people. In the first act titled See and be seen, there are 15 men and women posing for a group photo. While the photographer is looking for the right shot, the people in four rows are talking in confusion.
They are incoherent, individual scraps of conversation, which could come from any company outing. The photo shoot is long photographer: He surprised the naked Delia in the bathroom — a trivial incident with a tragic outcome. In the subsequent conversation — actually about the extension of their attic — the language comes in increasingly mannered becoming, mythically exaggerated tone again and again on the accidental encounter in the bathroom.
Fragments of the party conversation can be heard. Among the guests is Lorenz, the architect who repeatedly steps in front of the large wardrobe mirror to encourage himself for his encounter with Delia. A couple from the other appear and the noblewoman Anita von Schastorf relies on her monarchical dreams.
The piece ends with Anita releasing a golden eagle from the zoo to kill. Three groups of people, as it were three choirs, but not singing in unison, but, resolved into more or less faceless figures, banalities in between two dead and — brilliant conclusion — the slaughtered heraldic animal of the Federal Republic — but everything seems equally significant or insignificant , the little private stories as well as the sometimes conjured up myths and — the historical moment of the fall of the Wall.
Navigation menu
A pile of shards, a garbage table, a crawl box of the most beautiful sentences and effects. I hope this helps. I confess to being baffled by all this German expressionism: And how this relates to Salome seems pretty far-fetched to me. If I had the full text to the Rihm piece I might appreciate it more.
Share this article
The music is indeed interesting despite the heavy symbolism. The second piece is sure to turn up on your local classical music station in the near future! Excellent performances of both, however.
La Fleur de Cayenne. The composers on this CD represent various countries in the Americas: Midnight til close would be my hours. Only the lonely ones would stay until the very end, the ones who wanted a warm body pressed up against them, or the ones who were married but avoiding home. Until he was so drunk he could fall in love with any woman that would smile back at him. So that maybe we could both settle and be happy — not head over heels, but comfortable. Men with shrivelled faces and necks, red and raw from the sun. They were quiet but stern men with bony, milk white wives.
I saw them all around, sitting in restaurants eating their meals together so quietly you could hear the food mashing against their gums.